“I want to see the world go round,” says David B. South — and he’s dedicated his life to making it so.
The president of the Texas-based Monolithic Dome Institute is inventor and promoter of dome-shaped schools, churches and storage facilities. Because the dome is such an efficient shape — lower surface area, less building material required — his buildings are stunningly efficient when it comes to energy conservation and holding heat.
“We are at as low a price as you can build a school,” the warm, slow-talking Idaho native says.
“Anything that’s got any architecture to it — any masonry or anything like that — we’re less money.
“The buildings are greener than grass. They’ll always come up gold or silver in certification. And then the fun thing is that we’ve now got to where FEMA (the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency) has recognized these buildings for their strength. One school got 95 per cent of the cost of the building from FEMA because it’s also now the town’s tornado shelter.”
The idea is spreading across North America — and around the globe. And rather than try to maintain a monopoly on his patented construction techniques, Smith is only too happy to share his secrets with anyone who wants to learn.
“Believe it or not, I made the decision a long time ago to give this idea away,” Smith says. “I have classes four times a year to teach people how to build these domes. It helps if they buy the air form from me — the outer skin, which is what they inflate to make the shape of the building – but there’s nothing that says they have to.”
The first Canadian Monolithic Dome schools are under design, and should be coming soon. But Smith and his architecture have been up here for decades.
“I built my first dome in Canada back in ’78,” he fondly recalls.
“It was a potato storage over in Lethbridge, Alta. We also now make a weatherproof transportable cabin, and one of our biggest customers is going to be the Inuit in Arctic Canada. You can ship these up there and plant them, and you’ve got a building that there’s nothing nature can do to hurt you.”
Smith will be sharing his ideas and insights at the upcoming Green Building Expo, online everywhere May 19-20.
